The Wolfbat Way
by dreamoverdrive
Summary: This is the account of the journey from the grimy curb to the pro-bending championship stadium. The Wolfbats before they caught hold of fame and fortune.
1. City Dwelers

**So this is going to a kind of unstructured account of where the Wolfbats came from and how they ended up where they did. I've always loved and adored Tahno (sO mUCh poTenTiaL) but I wanted to take a look at what his teammates were like as well. I mean, they must be unique people if they can put up with Tahno (because he is a little bit of an ass). **

**I like to think that Tahno clawed his was from the bottom up. That's my justification for the way he flaunts his fame in canon- because he never had it before. Alright, I'm done rambling. **

* * *

His teeth were clanking against the glass of a bottle- a bottle of what he couldn't remember- while he sat on the moist curb. The wavering yellow glow of passing sato mobiles always gave him a vague sense of hope as tires rumbled nearer and nearer. _Thank god, someone was coming to get him._

But they always flashed by in a spray of watery grime and as Tahno watched the shape fade off into the darkness there was always the drunken sense of optimism _oh well, there will be another. _And there was and it was the same result, over and over and over again till even drunken optimism wasn't enough to stop him from picking the bottle up to let more liquid courage burn down his throat.

Cities weren't supposed to be like this. They were supposed to glow, sparkle, _and glitter_. They were supposed to be filled with velvet and curved red lips and open gilded doors leading where, Tahno could only imagine.

Tahno wasn't supposed to be sleeping in a basement on some rags because he couldn't afford a bed. He wasn't supposed to be stitching his threadbare swamp style clothes with clumsy fingers in the cold mornings before practice. He wasn't supposed to be cycled through team after team for people to decide his fighting style was too bold, too daring, and too risky to get him far at all. They sneered, yellow teeth and glinting eyes as they leaned down to say to him through the fogged helmet _better luck next time kid. _

But Tahno was shit out of luck and living on booze which he was sure doing terrible things to his liver. He already felt what it was doing to his mind. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take; how many more bloody bowls of post-training-session water while he hated himself because maybe if he had been a healer he could be eating something, how many more stares that slid over his skin as if he were just another lamp post or garbage can, how many more sleepless nights with the boom of footsteps overhead while he wondered and prayed (which was a new experience for Tahno indeed) to something or someone _let this get better. _

Because the old Tahno used to make things better. He used to snarl, he used to bare white teeth in challenge, and most of all he used to win. But this Tahno was like a worn down animal with scars on his muzzle and bones pressing through his pelt. The old glint of predator's eyes was dulled beneath the haze of alcohol and fatigue.

"You got a light?"

Tahno glanced over at the person he hadn't remembered sitting down next to him. It was hard to make out his features in the dim light of the dying lamppost but Tahno could zero in on tanned skin and green eyes that glinted with the same acute frustration buried in Tahno's own.

Tahno shook his head silently and the mystery person sighed. The unlit cigarette dangling languidly from his mouth was rolled back and forth a few times between his lips before it came to a halt at the side of his lips. "You got a name?"

Tahno leaned back. "Of course I do."

"Is it a good name?"

Tahno slid another look to the side and sharp green eyes watched him carefully. "It's a name people are going to know."

The man chuckled and reached for Tahno's bottle. Tahno said nothing, which surprised even himself, as the man held the cigarette between his fingers so he could take several long gulps.

A bang echoed across the street and both of them jumped with the delayed senses of the intoxicated. Voices echoed in the night and Tahno was impressed in spite of himself at the vocabulary of whoever was shouting. Cursing in the swamps had always been simple. Here it was an art.

A dark figure swayed as it wandered across the street. The head glanced from side to side, as if he too were looking for the warm glow of sato mobile lights to come and get him- to come and take him somewhere new.

He entered the watery pool of light Tahno and the other man were sitting under and a sharp pale face with a mop of brown hair turned black by the lighting were revealed. His boots scuffed along the wet street with slow scrapes and Tahno felt himself stiffen as the man drew nearer.

Without warning he turned and let himself drift down between the two strangers on the curb. He rested his elbows on his knees as if deliberately trying to invade Tahno's personal space and Tahno surpassed a hiss of irritation.

"Hello, gentlemen," the newcomer drawled, drumming unsteady fingers on his arm.

Tahno snorted. "Where do you get off?"

The new man reached over to the cigarette that had been rolled back and forth between fingers in disuse and lit it with a sharp cherry red flare from his finger. "Same place as you, I bet."

The other man laughed and took a drag. After a moment he released a hazy cloud of smoke that swirled opaquely, looking nearly solid in the darkness. "Don't we all."

"No," Tahno replied curtly.

"The name is Shaozu." He said the name the way someone else would say President of Republic City. He cast a searching gaze to either side of him. "And you rays of sunshine are?"

"Ming."

Tahno felt familiar consonants and vowels rising quickly in this throat before he could stop them. "Tahno."

The man named Ming leaned forward to look around Shaozu at Tahno. "I've heard of you. You're the guy trying to find a team." He paused. "People say you raise hell."

Shaozu rolled his eyes. "This place is one big slice of hell. It doesn't take much to pull some of it up to the surface."

Tahno glared, the words _I'm supposed to be the brooding smart ass _nearly out of his mouth before he realized how childish they sounded. He looked around at his new company and realized they couldn't be much older than him- sixteen or seventeen. They were all kids to be honest. Tahno felt behind him and took another swig from the bottle. But if he was really being honest, he hadn't felt like a kid in a long time. He supposed they hadn't either.

"You pro-bend?"

Tahno perked up at the familiar term only to realize the question wasn't intended for him.

"I lit your cig, didn't I?" Shaozu cast a longing glance at the bottle Tahno had just set back down but didn't reach for it himself.

Tahno snorted. "Amateur bender."

A heated glower was passed over. "At least I have a team and a salary."

"And how is that working out for you," Tahno muttered, eyes drifting up to look at the starless sky. He hadn't believed that city lights made stars fade into invisibility but now that he was here, he realized city lights made pretty much everything fade into invisibility.

There was a pause and then, "It's a drag."

Ming shifted. "I don't have a team. Been cycled through a few times but they don't like my style." He stopped and flicked the half smoked cigarette into the street and stared after it as the pale red glow faded.

Tahno watched the two of them, calculating. It may have been his drunkenness, it may have been his desperation, it may have been the last dregs of his sanity circling the drain but he said, "Let's make a team."

The pair of them looked at him incredulously, and this- this he was used to. Disbelieving stares, amazement, this was what he had left behind in the muggy depths of the swamp. And it felt good to be back.

"Unless you gentlemen have better plans?"

There was silence as the wheels in their minds turned. Oh they had plans alright. Something was going to happen and soon. Things were going to get better but was this a ticket there or a step back? This was a game they couldn't afford to be set back in.

"I'm in," Shaozu said decisively.

He and Tahno both turned expectantly to Ming and he shrugged his broad shoulders. "Why the hell not?" There were several answers to that question but the three of them ignored the unspoken reason hanging in the air.

"What's going to be the name?" Ming asked.

Tahno looked contemplatively over their gaunt faces, hollowed by shadows. Their eyes gleamed with a new ferocity at reawakened hope. Ruthless light was there- the drive to mould the world and inhibitions be damned. Then he looked down the line of them, all perched on the curb as lonely silhouettes in the cold darkness.

He smirked. "We'll be the Wolfbats."


	2. Day One

"_What the actual hell are you doing?"_

Shaozu seethed as he hovered over Tahno, who was digging through his dingy kitchen with brisk purpose. Tahno barely spared him a glance, absorbed in his task. "Making sure this is worth my time."

Shaozu let a tongue of flame flare from his lips for an instant, if only to startle him, but there was no reaction. "I'm about ready to grab you by the scruff of your nasty coat to throw you out if you don't tell me right this second-"

Tahno arched an eyebrow at him. "Don't get rude now. I'm doing this for all of us."

Shaozu lunged and Ming grabbed him to yank him back into the safety zone. "He did it to me, too," he said, brushing off Shaozu's arms. "The bastard actually has a reason."

"Well for the love of sprits, would someone _please _tell me what that reason is?"

The low threatening tone in Shaozu's voice finally made Tahno turn. "I'm making sure you're clean."

Shaozu's face registered confusion and then indignation. He drew himself up and snapped, "I am a professional athlete. I don't know if you two bums walk around smoking and drinking but I certainly do not."

Tahno narrowed his eyes at the jab. "Forgive me if I feel the need to check."

Shaozu made another movement forward and Ming restrained him. "Look, he went through my stuff the same way. If I put up with it, so can you."

"Did he actually throw anything out?"

"Two packs of unopened cigs."

Shaozu was torn between disapproval at the waste and respect for the ruthlessness. He settled on irritation. "You were the one with the bottle last night."

Tahno smoothly replied, "I dumped every drop I owned out. You gentlemen are welcome to check once I finish here." With that, he swept into the dingy living room that consisted of a moth-eaten couch and a dim lamp that looked about ready to topple over. He ran his arms under the cushions and Shaozu snorted. "Now what would I be keeping under there?"

"Poisonous insects," Ming muttered.

Shaozu's eyes gleamed at the first knock at humor. "One could only hope."

They snickered and Tahno glanced over. "What are you two giggling about?"

"The vagrant shuffling through my apartment," Shaozu replied. Tahno sent a venomous look as he checked under the couch.

"By the time we're done, we'll all be the social _elite_."

Ming and Shaozu glanced at each other. "Done with what?"

Tahno finished inspecting the couch and stood up, brushing off his threadbare pants. "Don't you know?" his lips curled into a smirk while re straightened the ratty cuffs of his coat. "We're going to claw our way to the top."

"You sure you aren't a lost actor?"

"Yeah," Shaozu chipped in. "Why don't you go look for your troupe. Spirits forbid they have to cast a new queen."

Tahno's smirk folded back into a tight line of irritation while the two cackled. "Laugh all you want but I am serious when I say I intend to make it. Now, are you two going to be burdens, or are you going to help me get there?"

The laughter faded as they glanced at each other, taking in the disgruntled and grimy appearances. "Yeah," Ming said quietly. "We're in."

Shaozu said nothing at his inclusion because he would have agreed in the first place. They were already speaking for each other and they'd barely exchanged names twelve hours ago. They'd scrawled their addresses onto Tahno's pale arm with a pen borrowed from a noodle joint a few blocks down. Before they put ink on skin, Tahno had looked up in a sudden break from the hazy mindset he'd been in the entire night to say—W_ait. We all bend different elements, right?_ There had been a hasty check and yes, thankfully, they bent different elements. Tahno had promised to stop by in the morning to round them up. Little did they realize that sober Tahno was even worse than drunken Tahno.

"One last question." Tahno pierced Shaozu and Ming with sharp eyes. "Are either of you hiding or selling any cactus flesh-"

Both protested at the exact same time creating a jumble of _what the hell _and _the fuck do you think I am_.

Tahno's eyes gleamed in anticipation. "Then let's get signed up."

* * *

"You chuckleheads serious?"

Tahno leaned his arm on the counter. "Serious as a heart attack."

The man picked up the packet of papers they'd filled out and the pathetically flat pile of yuans they'd managed to scrounge up for registration. "I know you boys from around. We've been trying to get you teams." He smoothed the sides of his snow white beard. "You think you can just start from jack squat?"

Tahno kept his face empty of any betraying emotions. "It can't be much worse than what we've got now."

Ming grunted in agreement from behind and Shaozu, who even with a team lived in one of the grungiest apartment complexes in the city, looked uncomfortable. The man scowled and rested his thick arms on the counter.

"You aren't going to get sponsors for a long time. No one will know who the—"he glanced down at the paper—"_Wolfbats _are until you do something worth their time and money. You got enough dough squirreled away to last you that long?"

Tahno smiled sourly. "I think we've made our decision."

He shrugged and leaned back to grab a stamp from under the counter. He pounded it with a condemning bang on the papers and shuffled them away.

"It's on your heads. Let's get you signed up for some matches."

* * *

They sat on the bench in the locker rooms, examining their new uniforms.

"Mine has a pit stains," Shaozu muttered.

Ming glanced over and showed Shaozu the upper collar of his. "He must have gotten a nose bleed or bitten his tongue because mine has all this—"

Tahno tore his distasteful gaze away from the uniforms. "Alright, they're disgusting. So what? It's only temporary." They sat in a kind of melancholy silence until Tahno pulled himself up from his seat, straightening his padding.

"Well sitting here and collecting dust won't do any good. Let's go see if the gym is open."

The gym was, in fact, open. Early Wednesday mornings were unpopular- precisely why Tahno had chosen to sign up when he did. They had been given the Monday, Thursday, and Sunday nights along with Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Saturdays were match days.

They had their first match in three days and they were horribly unprepared. With all the money they had just blown on registration, they couldn't afford to lose. They stood still for a moment, staring at the empty room before them. There was an uncomfortable pause before Tahno snapped.

"Come on. We aren't getting paid to stand around looking good."

Neither Ming nor Shaozu mentioned that they weren't getting paid at all yet but went to go help set up the water trough and stacks of disks. When they finished, there was a triangle set up for each of them to stand at a point with their respective element. They eyed each other and crouched down in unspoken preparation.

"Alright," Tahno drawled in a carefully light voice. "This is just to get a feel for each other's bending."

A long pause and then—

_Go._

* * *

It turned out that none of them were particularly reserved benders, except for maybe Ming.

A few rounds in and Tahno was having far too much success with his water whips and Ming's discs kept shattering on the cheap padding of their uniforms. Shaozu was careful with how much fire he was letting out in case of burns, but even Tahno was impressed with the jerky unpredictability of his movements.

They stopped for a break, trying to hide the way the way they breathed heavily. Tahno checked the cuff of his sleeve for any singing from when one of Shaozu's blasts had come a little too close for comfort.

"Not bad," he muttered almost to himself.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Shaozu raised his eyebrows.

Tahno glared and Ming added, "I'm sorry I didn't quite hear what you just—"

"I said you both better get it together or we're getting our asses handed to us this Saturday." The pair of them rolled their eyes.

"We've got a problem."

"It's alright, Tahno. You're _mildly_ tolerable—"

Tahno shot Shaozu a look and he fell silent.

"Who is going to be defense? We can't all be fighting like this. We need someone to cover. And we—" he looked at Shaozu pointedly "—need to figure out how to sanction space because we're both rather mobile."

"I'll be defense," Ming offered. "We just need to figure out exactly how mobile you two are going to be. I can't cover with you both running around in front of me. Not unless you want one of my discs in your back."

"Alright, let's practice at the net. We'll go through a few of our regular forms and we'll see how we need to modify."

It turned out Tahno was right and there was a lot of work to be done in terms of space division. Shaozu and Tahno would try and cross sides mid-way through a strike and ended up colliding. Ming kept trying to figure out how to send some kind of attack around the pair of them but they were weaving too suddenly into his line of fire. What should have been a cohesive assault ended up looking like a three way fight. A disc for both Shaozu and Tahno in between the shoulder blades was the final straw.

Shaozu jumped off the ground, rubbing the skin on his back. "You did that on purpose!"

"No, I did _not. _Maybe if you hadn't jumped right in front of me when you were supposed to be over there—"

"Gentlemen, that is quite enough."

The absurd title made them both stop and look at Tahno who was casually dusting himself off. He gestured over at the gym door and they turned to see a team leaned up against the wall, watching carefully.

"It looks like our time is up."

Ming and Shaozu followed Tahno as he strode from the room. They met the hard looks of the newcomers before they rounded the corner to head for the locker room.

"We do not have the luxury of snapping at each other's throats," Tahno hissed under his breath. "People are going to be watching us, so let's be very particular about what we let them see."

The locker rooms had filled with the beginning of the afternoon. The other benders looked over the Wolfbats critically, gazes lingering on the stains and threadbare patches on their uniforms. The Wolfbats stiffened but Tahno led them without pause to their assigned lockers.

Tahno sent Ming and Shaozu a look over his shoulder they interpreted as: _careful now. We're in enemy territory. _

Indeed they were.


End file.
